Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest Greek Letter fraternity in America and is considered to be the most prestigious academic honor society in higher education. Today the society represents not only academic excellence but love of learning, integrity, and depth of understanding. The Greek letters Phi Beta Kappa are the first letters of the motto Philosophiae Biou Kubernetes (Love of wisdom is the guide of life.).

Founded at William and Mary in 1776, this honorary society for liberal arts students includes only 262 colleges. Among them are all of the Ivy League colleges (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale), as well as institutions such as Bucknell, Colby, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Kenyon, Lafayette, Smith, Duke, Stanford, and Swarthmore.

Goucher College (then the Woman's College of Baltimore) was granted a charter by the national honor society of Phi Beta Kappa in 1904 as the Beta of Maryland Chapter.